Sacrifice
by Wii Master
Summary: Lyn gets ahead of the group and into trouble when facing Nergal, but is saved by the most unlikely person. A prequel for a future fic. Reviews appreciated so I can make it better. Rated T for violence.


Hi. Wii Master, the author here. I'm just here to tell you I hope you enjoy this piece of fanfiction. It will eventually be the prequel to a larger piece I am writing. However, the storyline here is stand-alone, and requires no obligation to read the other piece. To sum it up, please read and most importantly, enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Fire Emblem, or really anything else yet. I'm not 18. So there.

----------

There he was. Nergal, something you could no longer consider a man, dressed in thick robes as black as his heart. His hood was thrown back, revealing the terrible scar that ran through his eye. It bulged in its socket, dwarfing its partner. The orb radiated the same evil and decayed sanity that emanated from the rest of him. I dimly realized that I had pulled ahead of the group. No matter. The magnificent blade Lord Athos had given to me rested easily in my grip. My left hand moved to clutch the hilt just above my right as I moved closer to the maniacal sorcerer. His laugh echoed in my ears, a hollow sound that hinted at the loneliness that sat inside of him. My blood pounded in my ears, each pulse confirming my heart was still beating. A beat which I desperately hoped to maintain.

Even through the almost hypnotic rhythm, I found my thoughts turn to pity for this ancient creature. He too had been a man once. He too had once felt fear, love, and hope. My mind would allow none of the musings of my heart to interfere with what must be done, but it still could not stop them from running through my head. Nergal, a name that had become synonymous with evil. A name that, despite its new meaning, had once been noble enough for a mother to grace her child with it. A strange thought, Nergal's mother. Surely this creature had been born of the darkness it now wielded, spawned from a hellish pit by some demonic, arcane ritual? But no, Nergal used to be a human, if no longer.

My thoughts were instantly wrenched from their wanderings by a bolt of lightning, black with indigo arcs of energy chasing each other around its perimeter. It went wide, but it was enough to make my mind crystallize, now fully intent upon this encounter. My breathing dropped into a light pattern, something designed and taught to me by an eastern swordmaster that had joined our band recently. My current state refused to provide a name. Such it was with all battles. I could not bring my self to think of my enemies, or allies as people, but rather as objects. Their deaths were simply too painful.

I still cannot sleep at night without the bloodied face of Uhai looming over my dreams. Despite the Soaring Hawk siding with the enemy, he was still a fellow Sacaen, and a living, breathing child of Elimine besides. Nergal and his morphs on the other hand, if they had ever possessed the favor of the goddess, had lost it long ago. My palms were slightly moist as I raised the Sol Katti over my head and swiftly brought it down for a strike at his skull. I had no hope of felling this monster in a single blow, but maybe I could at least stall him long enough for my comrades to catch up to me.

Nergal, for all his power, could not stand against our powerful, if small, party. The red and blue-haired lords, friends since childhood each held an epic weapon, a relic passed down from the very legends that had shaped our lands. A fiery blade and a lightning charged axe. The names were there, but I was simply too focused, too intent upon my strike. The eastern swordmaster and his sister were there as well, one wielding an heirloom that was his heritage, the other, a blade just as precious, one given to her by her brother. An exiled bishop, a reformed assassin, spontaneous priest, mounted healer, ladie's man and knight, and last of all, his friend, the crimson haired protector, Kent. That name gave me pause. He had guarded me with his life countless times and saw me as more than just his liege. I too, saw him as more than just my sworn shield.

The impact of my sword snapped me out of my daze. It had hit some kind of magical barrier and glanced off, sliding to the left. Nergal's hands glowed with an indigo light. He slashed his right at my chest, followed by his left. The glowing hands left an afterimage of darkness engraved in my vision. Nevertheless, I managed to pull the elongated blade across my body and into position to block the lethal attack. I was surprised at the force of his blow, and the fact that no blood welled from his fingers, despite grazing the edge of my steel.

I pressed the offensive now, forcing Nergal to give ground beneath my frenzied onslaught. I rained high blows upon him, swept my sword low, aiming to shatter a kneecap or slice an ankle. Left and right, diagonal cuts and spinning thrusts flew at him, only to be deflected by his hands or a physical ward set in place by the dark magician. All but one that is. He abruptly halted as my blade entered the soft flesh of his thigh, a shallow cut, but a cut nonetheless. My sword was frozen in place as well, and somehow my body would not respond either. I was forced to look into his hate-filled eyes for what seemed to be an eternity. Beside that hate sat a very human emotion. Fear. He now knew that he could be harmed, now knew that he was not as immortal as he would have liked to be.

A dark aura encircled the shining steel of the Sol Katti. It traveled up the blade, blackening each portion it touched. When it reached the enameled hilt, the silver inlay tarnished at its tainted caress, and it inched its way closer to my hand. Suddenly, a bright light shone from the hilt. The golden topaz set as the counterweight glowed with a lustorous divine power. It raced up the grip and collided with dark energy. The magical auras dueled for a moment until the golden light pushed the darkness back. I'm not sure what happened next. The darkness, if possible, flashed and I felt a great force hurl itself into my body. The burning sensation that accompanied it paralyzed my mind with pain. I was thrown forcibly backwards some twenty to thirty feet.

I vaguely realized that I was defenseless. I could smell burnt hair, my own green locks were singed by the power of the dark magic. I pulled myself to my feet. I had to evade the next attack I knew was coming. My vision cleared just in time for me to see Nergal clasp his hands together and gesture at me. A bolt of lightning, blacker than death, arced toward me. I needed to move, had to move, yet couldn't move, as the horrible lightning raced toward me. They say in the Sacae that before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. The only things that flashed before mine were the people I had loved. Florina of Illia, falling from her pegasus in front of me. We became fast friends and had somehow found each other again after several years. Rath of the Kutolah, a silent nomad whose company I had come to enjoy.. We did not speak much, but there was a bond between us, from one plains dweller to another. Fiora, also of Illia. It was strange. I did not know Fiora well. In fact, it was she who I was competing with for a certain knight's love.

Lastly, a few seconds before the bolt hit me, I saw Kent's face. His noble countenance looked at me with all the love I knew he felt for me. If there was one thing I didn't wish to leave behind in this world, it was him. I looked back into Nergal's face for one last glance before I died. The Lorca always face death with eyes open. However, my open eyes caught something else beside his leering face. A streak of white rushing in from the right.

The next few moments happened in slow motion. A pure white pegasus hurled itself at the oncoming bolt of magic. Another shape, clothed in snowy white threw itself off its mount, interposing itself between me and the insane caster. She looked back at me with an almost regretful smile on a face framed by blue tresses. Everything sped up as the dark lightning hit her in the abdomen and blasted her limp body backwards. Even through the barrier of human flesh, the foul magic reached me before she did. It kicked fragments of stone and tile off the ground directly at my feet. I was thrown into the air and the pegasus knight collided with me. We flew across the room until our momentum slowed and we skidded to a stop at the foot of an ornate statue.

Going purely by some battle instinct, I raised my throbbing head to see what was going on. Lord Athos called out a complex phrase and raised his hand. A wall comprised entirely of light erected itself between myself and Nergal. I watched as a mounted knight detached itself from the group of warriors and charged forward on his proud steed, raising a hoarse, wordless battle cry overflowing with grief.

He charged at Nergal, spear pointed at his midsection. By some miracle, the dark sorcerer's wards failed, and Kent's lance pierced his stomach. The power of the charge lifted Nergal off his feet and carried him forward, a human banner strung on a crimson lance. As he pulled to a stop, Kent dropped his lance and dismounted, drawing his sword.

"Die, blackheart." I had never heard Kent's voice filled with so little emotion. His cold tone sent shivers down my spine. He raised the blade above his head. I looked away as he brought it down. To this day I can still hear the gurgling scream from Nergal's throat before Kent's second blow cut it off. Suddenly, I remembered the woman who had saved me. The smoking hole in her left side gave off a fetid stench, death and rotting flesh. I looked at her pale face, clenched in agony.

"Why?" I asked, a tear coming unbidden to my cheek. "Why did you sacrifice yourself for me?" Fiora forced the words out between gasps of pain.

"For lo-love," she said, her gaze finding its way to the red-clad knight standing over Nergal's body.

For love...

----------

Just so you know... Lyn is the one narrating, and the pairings in here are Lyn x Kent and Fiora x Kent.

Hope you enjoyed it. Leaving a review would be the noble thing to do. Much less painful than getting hit by a dark bolt of lightning. If you don't... well, nothing really happens, except I don't finish the story. So no big deal.

----------

Serra: I'm _really_ glad you re-formatted that. It was like, a wall of text.

WM: Yeah, I know, it was really terrible. I only got three reviews, and they all told me the same thing. RE-FORMAT PLEASE! Thanks goes to JSB for teaching me about the export button and to Gunlord for pointing out the little things.

Karel the Editing Swordmaster: You're still not very good... You wouldn't believe how much ink I used up. But at least you snuck my namesake in there. Very smooth.

WM: Alas, my first forray into the territory of first person narratives is most likely _not_ my best work. Oh well, hopefully the readers will like it and tell my how to fix my mistakes. Hopefully being the key word.

Serra: Then, chapter two will be up! Yay!

----------

-Wii Master


End file.
